Means for controlling speed of and expanding cloth



NW, 1, 1932. W. J. KOCH 1,286,342-

MEANS FOR CONTROLLING SPEED OF AND EXPANDING CLOTH Filed Sept. 24, 1931O O O INVENTO,

JlllIlll um I frock llzzzm/ Patented Nov. 1,; 1932 UN STAT I 11 OFFICEWILLIAM J. KOCH, OF MIDLAND PARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO VAN VLAANDERENMACHINE COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OE NEW JERSEYMEANS FOR CONTROLLING SPEED OF AND EXPING CLOTH Application filedSeptember 24, 1931. Serial No. 564,835.

On the delivery of fabric from a tentering machine, or tenter, itfrequently is desired to subject it to a drying and smoothin or otherfinishing treatment, and this is usual y accomplished by a machine knownas a Palmer ut in, any event having a rotary drum (usually heated)around which the goods extends and by whose periphery it is finished bybeing held in close contact therewith for a time. It

is known that although the tenter may have a constant speed the actualrate of delivery of the cloth to the Palmer is not constant, but varies,according to the conditions inherent in the cloth itself and broughtinto effect by the act of tentering, and that in consequence the clothis likely to become transversely creased on the drum "of the Palmer,which if heretofore rotated at variable speed was only so driven by avariable-speed drive manual ly controlled by an attendant. It has beenproposed to regulate the speed of the Palmer automatically according tothe speed of the cloth itself as by providing spaced guides (between thetenter and the Palmer) bridged by the cloth, and means, normally urgedagainst the bridging portion of the cloth but movable by the cloth inthe opposite direction, to control the shifter of means to drive thePalmer at variable speeds. .It has also been proposed to utilize acloth-expanding roller so that such roller would act to stretch thecloth transversely and thus restore it to the proper width and conditionbefore it attains the Palmer if it should gather transversely" andperhaps tend to crease lengthwise on leaving the tenter. But in theprevious embodiment of these features there is room for improvement witha view to simplify the mechanism and attain greater efiiciency, and

y it is the object of this invention to improve the previous mechanismin these respects.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is aside elevation of the Palmer and the adjacent end of thetenter equipped according to this invention; and

Fig. 2 is a plan of the cloth-expanding roller, partly in section.

The Palmer shownis of well known type, 1 being its frame; 2 thementioned finishing drum journaled therein; 3 a belt whose portion 30tightly embraces the drum for nearly its w hole circumference (i. e.,except at the right) and the remaining portion 36 of which embraces thefirst portion, said belt extending around appropriately placed rollers4:, and also around a smaller drum 5, one of said rollers being subjectto movement by a screw device 6 for efiecting tightening of the beltwith respectto drum 2.

7 is the 'tenter delivering the cloth in the direction of the arrow inFlg. 1; it may be of any well known construction.

The cloth'a is received by the Palmer between the apron portion 3a anddrum 2 and" after passing around the drum it is led over the topmostroller 4 shown to a rotary cooling mechanism 9 driven in any way, as byan endless chain 10 and gearing 22 itself driven mission means, 16 beingits input shaft driven c at some constant speed by any prime mover,

as an electric motor 18. On the shafts 16 and 17 are splined two pairsof reverse cone pulleys 19 and 20 surrounded by a belt 21. When theshifters are moved on their fu'lcra one way or the other the pulleys ofone pair are moved toward each other and the others allowed to moveapart, whereby the belt climbs the cones of one pulley'pair and descendsthose of the other, to afford variable speed of the output shaft. Thelatter shaft is connected by the mentioned gearing 22 a with the drum 2.

At 23 and 24: are j ournaled rollers forming guides over which the clothtravels after leaving the tentering operation, guide 24 being thecloth-expanding roller.

At 26 is a roller-guide which bears on the cloth between theroller-guides 23 and 24: and

is journaled in a lever 27 whose fulcrum, shaft 28, is between its ends.Roller 26 is journaled in one arm of this lever and the other armcarries a counterweight 26a which may be adjusted along the arm to suchposition that the guide will exert the proper pressure on the particularcloth being treated.

Shaft 28 is connected by a sprocket-andchain connection 29 with thefulcrum shaft 30 of a lever 31 having oppositely projecting armsrespectively connected by links 32 with the levers 15.

Thus, according as the portion of the cloth which bridges the guides 23and 24 tends to tauten or extend, the guide 26 rises or falls, actingthrough the train of parts connecting it with the shifters 15 to movethe latter in opposite directions around their fulcra so that thevariable transmission of which they form a part respectively reduces orincreases the speed of the drum. (Any other variable drive means may beresorted to). Moreover, if one of the three guides 23, 24 and 26 is acloth-expanding roller it will act to expand the cloth transverselywhile it is travelling. Thus, while transverse wrinkling of the cloth isprevented by controlling the speed of the drum 2 from the cloth itself,narrowing or lengthwise wrinkling of the cloth is prevented by thecloth-expanding roller.

In the mentioned previous construction the guide which formed thecloth-expanding roller was movable as a part of the speed-control means,wherefore its movement in this respect made it uncertain and irregularin its clothexpanding action. In the present construction this guide(24) occupies a fixed position between the guide (26) which now is theone movable with the speed-control means, and the drum 2, so that itsexpanding action is uniform and occurs immediately before the clothpasses to the drum.

Rollers for expanding cloth transversely and travelling in tractiveperipheral contact with them are of divers well known kinds and anysuchmay be used. Describing the roller shown (by way of example merely,and see Patent No. 1,799,603) by Fig. 2: An axial support 33 extendsaxially through a revoluble cage comprisin collars 34 journaled on thesupport at 33 one near each end and one or more between) and these arerigidly connected by the parallel rods 35 arranged around said support.To the intermediate collar (or collars) are alflxed longitudinal slats36. Confined by the rods to only sliding movement lengthwise thereof areother longitudinal slats 37 in two sets, with the set 36 between themand forming therewith a cylindrical shell. These areengaged at 38a withthe grooves of cams 38 (only one appearing) fixed on and thus in effectforming parts of the axial support 33. When the roller is in operationand is tractively engaged by the moving cloth each set of end slatsalternately moves toward and from the cloth by contact with the drumperiphery,

wherefore I refer to the Palmer as a machine for setting the cloth.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim is:

1. Apparatus for expanding cloth comprising a tenter and a machine forsetting the cloth delivered by the tenter having a revolublecloth-setting element around and in tractive engagement with which thethusdelivered cloth extends, said apparatus including spaced guidesbridged by the cloth between said tenter and machine, means to drivesaid element at variable speed having a shifter movable in one directionto accelerate and in the opposite direction toretard the output speed ofsaid means, a lever having a cloth-guide and normally urged to hold thecloth-guide a ainst the bridging portion of the cloth, an means,connecting said lever and shifter, for moving the shifter in its firstdirection when said portion of the cloth slackens and in its seconddirection when said portion tautens.

2. Apparatus for expanding cloth comprising a tenter and a machine forsetting the cloth delivered by the tenter having a revolublecloth-setting element around and in tractive engagement with which thethus-delivered cloth extends, said apparatus including spaced guidesbridged by the cloth between said tenter and machine, means to drivesaid element at variable speed having a shifter movable in one directionto accelerate and in the opposite direction to retard the output speedof said means, a lever having a cloth guide to bear against the bridgingportion of the cloth, means, adjustable along the lever, to cause it toyieldingly hold said clothguide under variable pressure against thebridging portion of the cloth, and means, connectlng said lever andshifter, for moving the shifter in its first direction when said portionof the cloth slackens and in its second direction when said portiontautens.

3. Apparatus for expanding cloth comprising a tenter and a machine forsetting the cloth delivered by the tenter having a revolublecloth-setting element around an in tractive engagement with which thethus-delivered cloth extends, said apparatus including spaced guidesbridged by the cloth between said tenter and machine, means to drivesaid element at variable speed having a shiftor movable in one directionto accelerate and i in the opposite direction to retard the output speedof said means, a lever having a clothguide and normally urged to holdthe clothguide'against the bridging portion of the cloth, and meansconnecting said lever and shifter, for moving the shifter in its firstdirection when said portion of the cloth slackens and in its seconddirection when said portion tautens, that one of the first two guideswhich is between said element and the third guide being acloth-expanding roller.

In testimony whereof I afix my signature.

WELIAM J. KOCH.

